


Five Things People Didn't Know about Poe Dameron and One Thing They Did

by csichick_2



Category: Star Wars Legends - All Media Types, Star Wars Sequel Trilogy
Genre: Alternate Universe, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-01-01
Updated: 2018-01-01
Packaged: 2019-02-26 06:40:22
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 999
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13230120
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/csichick_2/pseuds/csichick_2
Summary: Poe's life before the Resistance was a lot more complex than anyone realized.Set pre-The Force Awakens.





	Five Things People Didn't Know about Poe Dameron and One Thing They Did

**1\. He was born on Alderaan.**

Poe’s mother was pregnant with him when she sought refuge in the home of Bail Organa.  She became very close with Bail’s daughter Leia.  The day that Poe was born, Leia promised his mother that if something happened to her, Leia would raise him as her own.

 

The last thing Bail Organa did before the Death Star destroyed Alderaan was to entrust young Poe’s safety to a Rebel pilot named Shara Bey.  Her ship had just entered light speed when the planet was destroyed.

**2\. His last name isn’t actually Dameron.**

Shara Bey wasn’t actually Poe’s mother and Kes Dameron wasn’t actually his father.  His mother was Bria Tharen, a Corellian that ended up joining the Rebellion.  She sacrificed herself in an attempt to keep the Empire from finding out where she transmitted the stolen Death Star plans.  His father, also Corellian, helped Bria break free from the slave colony on Ylesia she had been duped into believing was a religious colony.  However, Bria parted ways with the pilot before learning of her pregnancy, needing to combat her demons on her own.

 

With Bria dead, Leia captured, and Alderaan gone, Shara found herself at the rebel base with a toddler, unsure what her next move should be.  She’s a pilot and raising a child was not something she’d ever given any thought too.  Fortunately, her boyfriend Kes had the experience with small children she herself lacked.

 

Even after Leia was rescued and Yavin 4 was forced to be abandoned as the Rebel base, Poe remained in the care of Shara and Kes, who eventually married.  Leia was too high profile a figure in the Rebellion and keeping her promise to Bria would have meant putting Poe in unnecessary danger.

 

While Poe used his father’s last name throughout much of his childhood, he took the name Poe Dameron when he joined the New Republic Starfleet.

**3\. Kylo Ren is his half-brother.**

While Shara and Kes were always a significant part of Poe’s life, at least until Shara’s death, following the Battle of Endor Leia was finally able to fulfill her promise to Bria.  She also introduced Poe to his father – the man that rescued Bria from slavery and that Leia herself had ended up falling in love with.  To say that Han Solo was surprised that he was a father was an understatement, but he adapted pretty well.  Though Leia would argue that teaching a six-year-old to fly the Millennium Falcon was not actually good parenting.

 

Despite Poe’s fears when Leia became pregnant, neither his father nor the woman he’d started referring to as his mother treated him any differently when his younger brother was born.  Ben, however, would constantly remind Poe that they had different mothers and tried to make the older boy doubt Leia’s love for him.

 

That is why, although he was disappointed, Poe wasn’t actually surprised when Ben turned to the dark side and started using the name Kylo Ren.

**4\. He is force-sensitive.**

Leia started noticing something special about Poe around his first birthday, though she didn’t know what it was at the time.  It wasn’t until Luke put it into words when Poe was eight, that everything made sense – including why Bail Organa entrusted Poe’s safety to Shara.  There was no way for him to know that Darth Vader was planning to test his super weapon on Alderaan, but he knew it was probably that Vader would use the Force to invade Leia’s mind.  And if he learned of the existence of a force-sensitive child, it was best that the child be hidden away before the Empire started looking for him.

 

Luke was more than willing to train Poe to become a Jedi when he was older, but Han and Leia both put their foot down.  Han because he still didn’t fully trust the force, and Leia because she knew that Poe lacked the patience that proper training would require.

**5\. He was taught to fight by Wookies.**

Poe was thirteen when Lando Calrissian’s two-year-old son was kidnapped.  Fearing their children were also targets, Han and Leia took action to hide them away.  Ben was sent to train in the ways of the Jedi with Luke, and Chewie took Poe with him to his homeworld of Kashyyk.  His parents would visit every few months, coinciding with Chewie’s departure or arrival from the planet.  It was when Leia visited on her own, that she confirmed what Poe had already sensed – that Ben had been lost to the Dark Side.  However, he was still blindsided by the fact that Ben’s actions had caused his parents to separate.

 

Chewie was gone more than the was there, especially after Ben became Kylo, but his family embraced Poe and made sure that Poe could defend himself from any physical danger.  Defending himself from the Force was unfortunately something the Wookies were unable to help him with, though his own sensitivity helped him resist its effects better than most.  At least when he knew it was coming.

 

When Poe was 18, he left Kashyyyk to become a pilot.  Concealing his identity was Leia’s idea – she didn’t want anyone to think that Poe’s accomplishments were the result of anything but merit.  She also felt it was safer for Poe to change his last name – while Ben seemed to want to keep Skywalkers alive – at least for now – she couldn’t be sure the same was true of Solos.

**+1. He is the best pilot in the Resistance.  At least until Han shows up.**

Poe never met a ship he couldn’t fly.  Everyone in the Resistance knows this.  So does everyone in the First Order.  However, only Poe and Leia know that there is one pilot more skilled.  And the day that Han Solo officially becomes a part of the Resistance, Poe will gladly relinquish his title of best pilot.  Having what is left of his family together again is far more important him than subjective platitudes.

**Author's Note:**

> Between seeing The Last Jedi and re-watching The Force Awakens, I started wondering “What if Poe was raised by Leia?” which then turned into “What if Han was Poe’s real father?” Although the Star Wars EU is no longer official canon, the character of Bria Tharen seemed the most logical choice for Poe’s biological mother, especially since I needed Han to be unaware of his son’s presence and her leaving Han to deal with Exultation withdrawal provided the perfect plot point for that. Poe is also about about 4 years older than he is in canon – which probably doesn’t mesh with the Han Solo trilogy timeline, but it’s been awhile since I’ve read them and AUs are AUs for a reason. I plan to expand this story into something much larger, but I posted anything in a year, so I wanted to lay out some ground work first. Especially since all the details of the larger story still need to be worked out.


End file.
